Dark Chocolates
by intercostalspace
Summary: How do you say goodbye? Ichigo. Rukia. Ichiruki.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: Kubo Tite owns bleach!

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Ichigo was browsing through a music magazine while deciding how he could piss her off today. "I suppose you will finish eating all that in one sitting?" 

She replies with her mouth full, "You got that right." She was sitting on his wooden chair with her chocolates spread on his study.

"Good thing gigais don't get fat huh?" '_What is with women and chocolates anyway,' _he thought.

"I like these ones better," she said pointing to the dark chocolates. For white day, she received white chocolates, milk chocolates, and her favorite, the dark ones.

"You want to bring some to Soul Society?"

"Nah," she says. "I'd be too busy there to indulge."

She was then reminded of their conversation before the first time she ran away.

-- flashback --

They were walking back home, and she was asking if he feels okay. She wanted to know actually if he would be okay fighting hollows by himself. At the same time Kon comes charging embracing Rukia's bosom. Ichigo was pulling the lion's tail as Rukia looks down on him.

"What's the matter?" Ichigo asks.

"I just though that he has grown attached to you," she spoke hiding her sadness.

"_Another _hassle," he says. She closed her eyes not wanting it to affect her.

-- flashback --

"By the way Ichigo, I talked with Urahara, he can take care of Kon for you," she says in a matter-of-fact kind of way, and he just nods. She has finished her chocolates.

Rukia slipped inside the closet. She wrote a letter to him. This day went by without much complications, and she liked it that way. Goodbyes sometimes complicates things.

When she was sure Ichigo was sleeping, she popped the green pill out of Kon gagging him in the process. She quietly opened the closet so as not to disturb him and placed a box of dark chocolates on his study table. The dedication says, "I won't be able to take them with me. Too bad," and then a big smiling Chappy face. Underneath the box is her letter.

Swiftly and quickly she opened and closed his window as she jumped out the window with Kon heading towards Urahara's.

Ah, her love for him, just like dark chocolates…bittersweet.

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	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: Kubo Tite owns Bleach!

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"URAHARA!" Ichigo shouts as he approaches them.

Everyone was outside the store. Ururu is as usual sweeping the floor, the red-headed boy is swinging his bat, Ririn is bullying Kon as the others watch on, and Urahara is petting the black cat. They were half expecting him to come. They were all curious whether she was lying to them or not, whether her reason why Ichigo did not see her off was true.

"Ah, Kurosaki and how may I help you?" the man asks him as if nothing is the matter.

"Don't play dumb. Tell me she is inside."

Urahara sighs. She really left him.

"She has left." Sandle-hat was looking at the boy intently. This was a different situation, and he would like to know how he would react to it.

"But she said she will be leaving today." All eyes were on him. Was Rukia lying to them earlier? The boy was obviously confused. _How can she just say goodbye through a letter? I want to say goodbye properly…or perhaps by some small luck convince her to stay a little more._

"Indeed. She left at 2 A.M. She left you a letter she said?" Ichigo simply nods. For the first time they do not see Ichigo as Ichigo. He was a boy. They look at him as if he were a child.

He nods again, head bowed down.

"She said she did not have the heart to wake you up since you slept like a baby."

He nods again. She was not lying to them. He was sleeping and she did not wake him up, out of selfishness probably. In truth, she does not want him to see her off.

"Come and sit Ichigo," Yoruichi's heart goes out to him. They all see a 6-year-old child walk towards them. He sits right beside Urahara.

"Have you read the letter?" The cat asks. "Mmmm…she left me chocolates too you know."

Both Urahara and Yoruichi nods as Kon jumps beside them. They were all speechless, careful not to say anything.

"Did she tell you anything before she left?" The boy was still looking down, swing his legs to and fro, watching his shoe.

Yoruichi taps Urahara's hand softly to tell him to be gentle. The boy was still a boy after all.

Kon taps Urahara's knee as well, "Urahara, I promise to be good for one week. Please…Please tell Ichigo..." The stuffed lion is still looking at him pleading. The others could not do anything but just look on and watch. Their hearts go out to him.

Urahara stood up and placed his hand on the boys hair.

_--flashback—_

Before going in she turns around to look at Urahara. "Thank you. Will you look after him for me?." She was obviously trying her best not to shed her tears.

"Of course I will," the man answered smiling. At Soul Society's standards, she was still a little girl, but he has to give it to her. She was definitely mature for her age. Sometimes, he wonders how she can carry all her worries. This one will be another load for her to bear.

"I know you want to know so I will tell you even if you do not ask." She thought it would be best she shed her tears now, there is no helping it. When she gets there, she will move on and so will he, when he wakes up this morning.

"I want to stay you know….but when I really really think hard about it…I thought…if I lived for 15 years and discovered love and love for less than 1/15 of my life, how was I suppose to know that this person is it? Could I possibly be able to love this person for the rest of my life? and perhaps until after life? Because you know, Urahara. I know I can, but I am not sure a 15-year-old can."

She is smiling now despite her tears. "And wouldn't it…wouldn't it be wonderful… if you could fall in and out of love as many times as you want when you are young? Shouldn't it be like that?"

"You can choose to tell him or not. I do not mind really. I think my letter says it all. I will not wait. I am sure he will find love far greater than what he has right now."

"And you my dear?" Urahara asks.

"Thank you for asking." That is all her reply. _Forgetting is so long…_

_--flashback--_

Yoruichi just wanted to embrace the boy. She knows how it feels, just like how she felt the when Urahara was telling her he will exile himself. In her case however, she chose to come with him. She thought she won't be able to live through the pain. Must be greater for Ichigo… for the boy, she thought.

Ichigo decided to open the letter. He does not mind sharing it with them anymore.

_  
Ichigo,_

_You and I know how awkward goodbyes are, so I just want to tell you instead…_

_SEE YOU LATER!_

_And since I am not very good with words I stole this from somebody…_

_In a while,  
__Every moment now returns.  
__For a while, seen or heard,  
__How each memory softly burns._

_I thank God for yesterdays,  
__How they led me to this very hour,  
__How they led me to this place..._

_Every touch, every smile,  
__You have given me in care.  
__Keep in heart, always I will,  
__Now be treasuring everywhere.  
__And if life should come to just one question,_

_No trace of sadness,  
__Always with gladness..._

_Now a song that speaks of now and ever,  
__Beckons me to someone new,  
__Unexpected, unexplored, unseen,_

_In a while,  
__You and I forever change,_

_And if life should come to just one question,_

_No trace of sadness,  
always with gladness,_

_Never with sadness...  
__Always with gladness..._

He could not hide a tear and he stands up. With his back to everyone he says, "Tell me when she comes back?"

"Of course we will. Not a second later." Yoruichi quickly said hoping to comfort the boy as he walks away with her letter.

"He lost the girl huh?" Ururu said. She was still looking at Ichigo's back as he went off.

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Author's notes: The letter is actually a song sung by Lea Salonga and Composed by Louie Ocampo. I am sorry I deleted a few lines to fit my story. It is an absolutely wonderful song. You can download a copy at morbidfeather dot livejournal dot com or zfamme dot 4shared dot com.


	3. Chapter 3

They walked some more and decided to retreat at a nearby bench. He missed her terribly and wondered if what she said to Urahara was right…that she wasn't sure if he would be able to love just one girl forever. That was whats in his head 24/7. If he could answer that with a resounding 'yes' he will, without a doubt, follow her wherever the hell she is.

It is reasonable when you think about it. How can a 15-year-old boy decide something as life changing as that? Aren't emotions fleeting? You decide to love and then not love, and then the cycle goes again.

"The envelope will not open itself," Mizuiro says to him. As Ichigo thinks about all these, he opens it hesitantly hoping that whatever it is will ease his burden rather than add to his growing confusion.

The contents, surprisingly, comforts him. It was a photo of Rukia. She was smiling… looking so happy and innocent… It was a solo shot. How he wished at that moment pictures were taken like that in Harry Potter's where pictures move to capture the exact feel. He wanted to hear what conversation she was having that moment. What was she so happy about?

But this will do. It was still the way he wants to remember her.

"I took the picture day before she left," Mizuiro says.

"Perhaps there was something in her already that time which you did not know. You know why I took the picture Ichigo?"

He looks at him. "She told you in advance she was leaving?!" Ichigo almost stood up before his friend could answer.

"Of course not, why would she? We weren't that close. But I thought maybe she left signs for us but we did not get it…you know, that she was leaving or thinking of leaving at least…"

He continues his talk but this time his expression changed, and he did not look at Ichigo. Whatever sadness he has in him, knowing how he is, his friend is sure he would like to keep it to himself, so he decided not to look at his friends eye in his moment of weakness.

"She asked for a picture of you…that is why I told her, in return I would like to take hers too. She was hesitant at first but with enough teasing I did get her to agree."

Before continuing he waited for him to grunt at least, to confirm that he was still listening or if he was back thinking in his own little world. "Go on," Ichigo replies all the while looking at Rukia's picture, not taking his eyes of her.

"I asked her teasingly if she loves you, you know? That time I asked her. She kept smiling at me but I suppose she was too shy… and then she laughed… which actually caught me off guard since she was not normally like that. Then I took the picture. That same moment, as in that same moment… she said 'Yes, I love him! I love him! Do I even have to say it?' Then she just kept laughing and smiling. She told me then, 'Are you happy now Mizuiro?' But in a playful way… she wasn't angry at me. I guess she was just really so shy. Then she says to me, 'Oh well, it's inevitable. I mean, I have to say that even at least once in my whole lifetime right?'"

Ichigo was not speaking and so was Mizuiro. "Is that all?" the boy asked.

"I asked her once… I think that was when she was still new here. I talked to her because you were together all the time but you weren't talking, and it looks as though you hated her then…" He did not know what to feel over those early memories.

"Ah." He could not believe that he found her irritating in those days long ago. He could not remember hating her. What was that feeling anyway? Hating Rukia? How could he? He loves her! He saved her! And sadly, he miss her…and missed her in the truest sense of the word.

"She always had her cellphone with her right? So I asked to see it and she handed it to me. I didn't fiddle with it much coz the commands were quite different really. I noticed the time was not set. 'You did not set the clock?' I asked her."

"Mmm."

"I found her quite answer quite complex actually, too deep for a high schooler…You know what she said?"

"Mmmm."

"Because time changes feelings into mere memories."

After this, the two of them sat there in silence, and as if boredom claimed him or most probably his misery did, he got up and thanked Mizuiro.

Ichigo put Rukia's picture in a frame and placed it at his desk. He swore to keep her picture, and attached his letter for her.

_The night wind revolves in the sky and sings._

_Tonight I can write the saddest lines.  
__I loved her, and sometimes she loved me too._

_Through nights like this one I held her in my arms.  
__I kissed her again and again under the endless sky._

_She loved me, and sometimes I loved her too.  
__How could one not have loved her great still eyes?_

_Tonight I can write the saddest lines.  
__To think that I do not have her. To feel that I have lost her._

_To hear the immense night, still more immense without her,  
_

_The same night whitening the same trees.  
__We, of that time, are no longer the same._

_I no longer love her, that is certain, but how I loved her.  
__My voice tried to find the wind to touch her hearing._

_Another's. She will be another's. Like my kisses before.  
__Her voice. Her bright body. Her infinite eyes,_

_I no longer love her, that is certain, but maybe I love her.  
__Love is so short, forgetting is so long._

_Because through nights like this one I held her in my arms  
__My soul is not satisfied that it has lost her._

_Though this be the last pain that she makes me suffer,  
__and these are the last verses that I write for her.  
_

He lies awake trying to sleep through his tears, he could not keep from sobbing…Tomorrow, she will become a memory…

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Author's notes: The poem is by Pablo Neruda, "Tonight I Can Write the Saddest Lines" 


	4. Chapter 4

She has been trying to wake him up for 5 minutes, and must have kissed his forehead 100 times now as she brushed his orange hair from his face. He cradled his head in her chest. Ichigo was still sobbing and shaking in his sleep, but he was too much in misery to feel her comforting him.

"Sweetheart, wake up. It's just a dream." And she kissed him again and brushed his hair. He starts to calm down, he opens an eye to confirm she is there, and though still sobbing, both his arms encircle her waist and moved her closer to him.

She was suppressing a grin when the door slamed open, "Ma! Dad! Pop's here were going for ice cream, what do you want?" The 10-year-old boy barged inside their room. This is the first time he saw his father crying…but before he could ask any question, another kid went running into the 10-year-old.

"They're here! We're going!" This time the 8-year-old girl moved towards her father who was still hiding his face in Rukia's chest.

"I know why you're crying!!!" She says teasing. "You dreamt again about that time Ma left you!" Rukia was hiding her grin inside herself to keep embarrassing Ichigo. This is the second time this happened in 10 years since they have been together, and this is the second time their daughter saw him. The first time was when she was 3-years-old.

Rukia glared at the girl. She will have to berate, as in berate and nag, the little girl later so she remembers not talk that way, certainly not about the subject matter and not about her father that way. She will make sure the little girl will not do it again.

"We're going, what flavor do you guys want?" The boy asked looking at his mother. He understands his father and unlike his sister, hewould not dare make a mockery of his father who he looks up to highly.

"One chocolate, one strawberry," Rukia says and then the boy dragged the girl outside.

When the kids were out, he looked at her eyes and she smiled. "I'm sorry," she says. "I promise it will never happen again."

"It's okay. I guess it is the same this year that it happened that's why I dreamt of it." He pulled himself up a little and placed his lips on her neck. "It rarely happens anyway and you promise not to do it ever again right?" He was leaving a trail of marks on her neck. His dream was still fresh in his mind, his longing for her to be with him still present…his hands and body sent this message to her.

"Promise," she whispered in his ear huskily. That's what she also said to him when he came to her a week after she left him. He went to Soul Society to speak with her and they ended up making love, and she came home with him. He decided then that she is what he wants.

Two months later, their making love surprised Isshin, Byakuya, and practically everyone else except them. He actually wanted it. He was claiming her as his and that is how he decided to do it so he can keep her forever.

Of course, he is now a doctor and she is a housewife. From time to time when duty calls, they still fight hollows.

THE END

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Author's notes: I am more of a reader than a writer. 


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